


Entropy

by DarkJediQueen



Series: Full Moon Fic(let) [21]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Canon Divergence, Full Moon Ficlet, M/M, One-Shot, Pre-Slash, Scott McCall is a Bad Friend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:15:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26927965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkJediQueen/pseuds/DarkJediQueen
Summary: Meeting Laura Hale changes Stiles' life, but after meeting Derek, her brother, he's not sure if it's for the best or for the worst.
Relationships: Stiles Stilinski/Derek Hale
Series: Full Moon Fic(let) [21]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1756846
Comments: 32
Kudos: 357
Collections: Full Moon Ficlet Prompt #401: Entropy





	Entropy

**Author's Note:**

> **Year** : 2011  
>  **Spoilers** : Everything  
>  **Notes** : One-Shot for Full Moon Ficlet. No more will be written for this.  
>  **Beta** : Grammarly

Stiles Stilinski looked at his Jeep, where it was parked on the side of the road. He frowned and then looked at his phone, frowning harder as some idiot had run him off the road. It hadn't been that bad. However, the Jeep had broken an axle, and in the flurry, Stiles trying not to go over the side of the hill, his phone had popped off of the holder and was shattered enough now that he couldn't make a call.

It was just late enough at night that this road around the Preserve wasn't used a lot, and his father would worry when he wasn't home when he got home. Which was sometime over the next hour. Stiles had left the station long before him, heading home after eating dinner with him.

"Need help?" a voice asked.

Stiles looked to the woods where a woman was standing.

"Yeah, do you have a phone? The axel broke, and my phone did as well." Stiles tried to place where he knew the girl she was somewhere around a decade older than him, but he wasn't sure on that. She was dressed in running clothes and a pair of sporty shoes that looked pretty fancy.

"Sure." The girl walked over to him and handed him her phone. He dialed his father's number.

"Stiles, I'm on my way home. Can it wait?" Noah asked.

"Well, I mean, I guess it would wait until you get home, but then you would find me not home. I went driving after dinner, and some asshole ran me off the road. I'm fine. The Jeep and my phone are not." Stiles rattled off where he was.

"Whose phone is this?"

"Some random chick who was running in the Preserve, Daddio."

"What's her name?"

"Ugh, really?"

"Laura Hale," the girl said.

Stiles nearly dropped the phone. Well, he did drop it, but he caught it before it hit the floor. Now he knew why she looked familiar. "Dad, it's Laura Hale."

"Ah, I see. Well, make sure that she stays there. I wasn't aware she was in town."

Stiles hung up after telling his father he would stay put.

"You seemed to know me," Laura said.

"Yeah, I mean, I know of you, more than just you know the big thing. I was at the station that night. Asleep in my Dad's office."

"Your the Sheriff's son?" Laura asked.

"Yeah." Stiles wasn't sure what the look on Laura's face was, but it was only a few seconds later that the sound of a car approaching had Stiles turning to look. His father was in his SUV and not one of the cruisers, which Stiles was happy about.

"Laura Hale?" Noah asked as he got out of the front seat.

"Yes, Sheriff."

"Thanks for letting my son use your phone. When did you get back into town?"

"The night before last. Something came up that the lawyers needed me here for. So I came into town."

"Where is Derek?"

"At college in New York."

"Good. I'm glad he's doing well enough for that. Can I give you a lift somewhere? Tara's already called in a tow Stiles. We will leave the key in the ignition. Did you get a plate?"

"Oh, yeah, I did."

"Good. Good. Text it to her." Noah handed over his cell phone, and Stiles snagged it to do as his father asked.

Stiles watched as his father looked at Laura for a few seconds longer than he should be.

"What kind of issue? Do you need help?"

"No, it's handled. I was just gonna stay a little longer and then head back. I got the last half of the week off of work and then Monday as well."

"Where are you staying?"

"The inn at the far end of town."

"That place isn't the best."

"It's good enough. Better than the first apartment I had in New York while at college. Thankfully taking care of Derek allowed me to get a good place that we can both use."

Stiles knew what that meant; whatever trust was set up to take care of the kids had been given to Laura since it was only her and Derek who had lived. Well, there was Peter Hale, but he was in a coma. Stiles wondered if she had gone to see him yet.

"Is there anyone you can stay with?"

"No."

"Okay, then. Stiles, I'm going to drop you at home. Laura, we are going to the inn, and you will stay with us."

"I couldn't," Laura said.

"I offered. You don't need to be alone while dealing with any of this."

Laura looked like she was going to refuse, but she didn't. She nodded her head.

"Good. Get in," Noah waved at the SUV as he held his hand out to Stiles.

Stiles handed over his keys and watched as his father got the one ring with his Jeep key off. He walked over to the Jeep to put it into the switch. Stiles walked around to get his stuff out of it. He didn't need much as he wasn't back in school yet, but he snagged his phone. His father frowned when he saw it.

"Hey, this time it wasn't my fault at all. I was in my lane going exactly the speed limit. This guy passed me and then cut over before he was actually in front of me."

"I know. The look on my face is for the fact that I'm glad it's just your phone. You could have been hurt badly, Stiles."

"I know, Daddio." Stiles walked around the Jeep and hugged his Dad. It felt good. The angry was leaving him, and now he was thinking about how it could have been. "I did well. I made sure to not flip the Jeep and not go over the hill."

Stiles wasn't shocked when his Dad didn't say anything. He just hugged Stiles a little tighter before pushing him toward the SUV. Stiles got into the front seat and looked at Laura behind him. She was buckled in and was looking at her phone with a frown on her face. "Something wrong?"

"I texted Derek, and he wants to come. He starts classes again Monday. I don't want him to miss that. He took an advanced track and finished out many beginning college classes during his last two years of high school. He's nearly done with his degree. This is his last round of undergrad stuff. He's been looking at postgraduate schools and thinking about going to Berkeley."

"That's a good school. Do they have what he wants?" Noah asked as he started up the SUV.

The discussion was about the school, and Derek wants to get his Masters in Architecture. Stiles remembered the teenage boy as he was the night of the fire, scared and lonely. Stiles had tried to console him, but Derek hadn't wanted a single part of it. Stiles wondered if he was better or worse now.

* * *

The crash in the living room had Stiles rushing to his father's bedroom. He had heard the knock on the door and for once had done what and adult told him to do, which was go up to his room. Laura said it was for her, even though no one but her lawyer knew where she was staying.

Stiles opened up the gun safe and pulled up the Glock that was inside. It had been a few months since his father had taken him to the range, but it was okay. He was good enough to fend off whoever was attacking Laura. Another crash has Stiles rushing. He kept the safety on the gun and looked down the stairs. There was no one there, so he went down. He looked around the corner and saw no one from the bottom step, so he went to the hallway. There was another loud crash, and it sounded like something big was thrown around.

Popping around the corner, Stiles yelled, "freeze!" The beast didn't stop, but the thing that kind of looked like Laura did. She looked at Stiles in horror as Stiles looked at the beast in horror. She moved at the last second, and the beast missed her, crashing into the wall. "I will shoot you."

Stiles tried to ignore the way that Laura looked like she was wearing fake fur on her face. She had never done a damned thing to hurt him, yeah she did some weird stuff on occasion, but in the few days, she had been staying with them. She wasn't dangerous. At least not to him and his father. This beast, though.

Laura grabbed the beast and flung into the wall. Stiles took aim at it and waited for it to move, and he fired the gun. It ripped through the thing's shoulder area, and while the beast yipped like it had been hurt but kept on coming at Stiles now that he had injured it. Stiles tried to escape, but he wasn't able to. The thing caught him up and threw him into the wall. He felt things snap, and there was such pain. He slumped down to the ground and knew that something was really wrong. The beast raised a clawed hand up, and Laura rushed over to it. She grabbed it and bit it on the neck. It howled and took off as soon as it got free. Laura crouched down at his side, and her hand touched him and then came back with blood.

"It shattered your back. I can feel it."

"I can't," Stiles said, and he knew that it wasn't good.

"I can heal you, save you." Laura's face turned human again, and her eyes were soft. They flared red as Stiles gasped in pain.

"What are you?" Stiles asked.

"Werewolf. Do you want to be one as well?"

"Am I dying?" Stiles asked.

"No, but your back...it's not good. He barely scratched you. It's just slowly bleeding. Your back...I can't say that you would never walk again, but it would be hard on you."

Stiles thought about the money that would go into that. His father's insurance was good, but not that good. "What's the downsides?"

"If the bite doesn't take, you'll die, but you are young, and that's very rare, especially since you'll know about it and consent to it. Some Hunters will try and kill you if you step out of line or just exist when it comes to some of them. The full moon would be a bitch, but thankfully tonight is one, and you won't be fully changed before it ends. You'll have all month to get control and find your anchor. Heightened senses."

"Hunters?" Stiles asked.

"They killed my family."

"Dude, that's so not right. Dad and I will make sure that it doesn't happen. Who was that?"

"An Omega. I have no clue who they are. I've smelled them over town, but it was so faint. I assume that he's only active during the full moon. He's damaged in some way, but I hope maybe I can find him. We can feel each other, smell each other, so I just need to find out who else is a Werewolf in town."

"Your Uncle?" Stiles asked.

"Stiles, do you want the bite or to ask my twenty questions?"

"Both," Stiles answered.

"Side is best. I'm going to try and gently move you so that I don't injure you more."

Stiles was full of pain. He knew that he should have more, but it was faded like he was only feeling some of a great deal of pain. He knew that Laura bit him because he saw it, but he didn't feel it. He looked at the wound, bleeding slightly but not horribly. He could see the scratches from the Omega. Those were barely bleeding as well.

"I'm going to take you up and clean you up, dress the wounds."

"I'm a guy," Stiles said.

"Stiles, I've seen my family naked more than anyone else, and now you are family, before this even. You and your father took me in when I didn't think I wanted it. You showed me that people do still care. I need to call Derek and tell him that he needs to get his stuff in at Berkeley as soon as possible for his Masters. I won't be leaving here. You won't come with me, and I won't leave a member of my Pack behind again."

"Again?"

"Uncle Peter. I didn't realize until Derek was fully entrenched in college that what I was feeling was Peter's bond slowly fading. He became and Omega. I need to make sure to pull him back into the Pack. He might heal up with me back here." Laura lifted Stiles up, and Stiles felt his body moving in ways that it shouldn't. With his back broken like it was, he wasn't shocked, but it felt really weird.

Laura laid him down on the bed and grabbed a pair of scissors to get his clothes off of him. She left his boxers on thankfully, but the rest of him was naked. She left the room and came back with the throw-up basin that lived under his sink. It had been cleaned out well after his last round of a stomach bug that had him throwing up for a week. It was full of water that she used to clean up most of the blood from Stiles.

Stiles never wanted to feel this again, or more accurately, not feel this. It was strange as hell to look at how she was cleaning him and not feel it. There was no drag from the rag, no feeling of wetness.

"What are the chances that this doesn't heal me?" Stiles asked.

"There is no chance. I have seen it happen before. Growing up, my uncle's best friend was bitten by mom when he was caught with Peter by Hunters, who thought he was an Omega. The Hunters paid for it, the assault recorded by the former Sheriff, and it was marked as a hate crime since he was Black."

Stiles heard the door open and shut. "Fuck, Dad's home. Go. I'll be fine. Just...go."

"I'm telling him."

"STILES! LAURA!" the sound of his feet on the stairs sounded before Laura could get up. Since Stiles' bedroom door was right at the opening, his father appeared there. He looked fucking scared.

"I'm fine, Dad. I promise."

"Sheriff, don't call anyone," Laura said.

"There is blood in the living room, and it looks like a brawl happened."

"I'll pay for anything that was broken, but the person who did this is long gone, and we have no clue who he is."

"If you are fine, why aren't you moving? Even your fingers are still, and you are naked in bed with an adult."

"Eww," Stiles said.

Noah gave him a look, and Stiles looked at Laura. He nodded his head.

"Before Mom died, she was going to talk to you one day. Show you how our family was different. In the wake of everyone dying, Derek and I left. Trying to make it harder for the person who killed the rest of my family to kill us too. I need you to disarm, Sir."

"I saw the gun downstairs, who fired it?" Noah asked.

"I did, Dad. I shot the guy who was attacking Laura. Just go do what she asked, please."

Noah gave Stiles a look, but he did as Laura asked. He was back in the room a few moments later without his gun belt at all. He put his hands on his hips and looked at Laura.

Stiles knew what was coming, but it was still strange to see it. He hadn't been looking too closely at her the first time. He could see that even her eyebrows disappeared. Which was fucking freaky. Stiles really hoped that he didn't lose his like that.

"Holy fucking shit," Noah said.

"So a big beast attacked Laura. I brought the gun down. Shot it. It threw me across the room and then attacked. Sliced me as you can see."

"And bit you?" Noah asked.

"Ah, no. I'm getting to that. So my back is broken like I can't feel anything below my neck. Laura bit me."

"I'm an Alpha, Sir. Alpha Werewolf. It passed down to me after my mother died. Most of my family were Werewolves. Only the Alpha can change people. Stiles will heal up, and I asked him first. I didn't do it without asking, but he's changing into a Werewolf. He's going to need tomorrow off of school as it'll be sometime tomorrow before he's healed up from everything."

"Well, I'll call the break-in, and we can use Stiles shooting him as the reason. I'll have Tara take your statement, Stiles. You just lay there and try not to let her know that you can't move."

"I'll stay with him, Sir. We can get him under the blankets, and hopefully, she won't know."

"I'll deal with the Werewolf part later. Thank you for saving him, Laura. Tell the truth as much as you can. I would like a moment alone with my son."

"For full disclosure, Sir. I can hear anything said in the house. I will try not to focus, but I can't help it sometimes."

"What else can you do?"

"All senses are heightened."

"So, he'll know when I sneak burgers instead of salads for lunch?"

"Dad's got jokes. He thinks his deputies don't already tell me all of that."

Noah laughed, but it didn't reach his eyes. Laura passed by him, clasping her hand on his shoulder before she left the room. He walked over to sit down beside Stiles, reaching out and cupping the side of his face. "You didn't have to."

"I wasn't going to let you watch me in a hospital bed as we figured out how back it was and everything, Dad. I would never do that to you. She gave me more than enough information. The fire wasn't an accident because Hunters did it. I'm gonna learn all that I can, and I'm going to make them regret the day that they ever went after them."

"Son," Noah said.

"No, Dad. It's for Cora and for Spencer. We weren't as close as we had been when the fire happened, but they were my friends. I didn't know Derek well at all as I was just friends with them in school and shit, but...Dad, they were killed because they were Werewolves. That's like saying that because I'm half Polish that I need to be killed as well. I can't let that stand."

"You wouldn't be your mother's son if you let it stand but not until you get everything under control. You are going to do whatever Laura wants you to, and you are going to be the best that you can be."

"Sure thing, Daddio. Best Werewolf ever, that's gonna be me." Stiles could see the tears in his father's eyes. He knew that his father knew that he had nearly died, but then he didn't figure that Noah would want him to do a single thing differently. Dying protecting someone else was like the best way that someone could die if they had to.

Stiles would never make a different decision, based on what he knew at the time. He would never not try and save her. He was alive; he might be turning into something different, but he was alive, and he could protect his father even better now.

* * *

Stiles ran as hard and as fast as he could. Only stopping when he hit the edge of the Preserve. The ground gave a little, and when he looked down, there were indents from the pressure of his stopping. He laughed and then fell to the ground. He had to be home for dinner soon. Laura was cooking something to mark the return of Derek. He was flying in for the weekend. Stiles had wanted to go and get him, but his father had won that right. So Stiles was left to burn off energy. He still had his ADHD, and it showed up in the worst ways. After the break-in at the house and the damage done to him, he had been allowed to do a lacrosse tryout during practice. Which had gone better than Stiles thought. He wasn't the first line, but he was on the second line.

Scott had been pissed as hell about that as he was on the bench. He yelled at Stiles about trying to one-up him, but Stiles had just talked about the times that Scott had ditched him when they were supposed to practice lacrosse. Scott hadn't talked to him since. Stiles wasn't sure if he wanted to fix things as they were right now. Scott lied to him a lot. Like why he hadn't come over for their game night and instead ended up bowling with Jackson, Lydia, and Allison Argent. Allison Argent, who was new to school and Stiles didn't like her. There was something about her.

"It's not safe out here," a voice said.

Stiles turned around to look at the man who had spoken. He had seen him dropping off Allison at school, so it had to be her father.

"Well, Sir. I don't know who you are, but I'm not gonna trust you. I was told that it was fine for me to run here by my father."

"Your father?" Allison's father asked.

"Yeah, you know the Sheriff."

Allison's father's eyes widened in shock. He was carrying a crossbow. Stiles noticed it finally. He had been more shocked about being come upon in the woods.

"And the only way that there would be issues is if I'm a deer. So far, that's the only thing that has been killed, and since there has been nothing since, I assume that whoever did it has moved on. That's what Dad thinks anyway. So I'm fine."

"I think I should escort you away from here."

Stiles looked at him, and he saw the way that he was tense. He was looking for a fight. Stiles just gave him a grin and pulled his cell out of his pocket. He looked at Allison's father as he dialed his father's cell phone. "Hey, Daddio."

"Stiles, you know I'm driving."

"Yeah, I'm on that run I told you about, and I've got a grown man who is holding a crossbow and telling me that he needs to escort me out of the area you have deemed safe for me to be in. So yeah. I just wanted to let you know that I've got Mister Argent here telling me I need to leave."

Allison's father glared at him, and Stiles just widened his grin. He gave a jaunty wave.

"What's he doing?" Noah asked.

"Glaring at me. I don't think that he liked that I knew who he was. I really don't care that he's mad at me. What should I do?"

"Well, he needs to leave and stop trying to force a teenage boy to go where he wants him to. I'll deal with him when I get home. You go ahead home, walk. Did you drive?"

"Nah, I'm not far from the house. I'll be safe to get home, I promise. I just wanted to let you know." Stiles looked to the side and behind Allison's father was someone else. He closed the call on the phone and glared at Mister Argent until he finally went away. Stiles then focused on the man behind. Now that he could see him better. He knew that it was Peter Hale. Peter Hale, who was supposed to be in a coma.

"You shot me," Peter said.

Stiles knew he was in deep shit. He wasn't sure he could outrun him. Peter was an Omega, but he was a born wolf. Peter was disfigured, but he was still strong.

"I did, but you were attacking someone. I didn't kill you." Stiles found the bond inside of him that linked him to Laura and tugged on it. Hopefully, dinner wouldn't be ruined.

"No, you didn't. You didn't even shoot to kill. One would think you just meant to get me away from Laura. Why do you protect her?"

"She has regrets. I heard her talking to my father three nights ago. I think that they thought I was asleep. It's kind of nice, having the hearing that I do. Even if I really never want to hear my father jerk off. I learned quickly how to focus on other things to the exclusion of everything else. It's kind of interesting."

"I could just rip out your throat," Peter said.

"Dude, you could just tell me to shut up instead." Stiles could smell that Peter was amused. There was no anger in him. He sounded like he was amused as well.

"Where would the fun in that be."

"I saw the deer. Dad asked about it, and Laura said it was why she was back. A deer with the symbol for revenge on it. Not subtle at all."

"It wasn't meant for Laura, but I really wouldn't have cared to have run into her on the full moon."

Stiles looked up into the sky to see that the sun wasn't nearly down enough yet to see the moon. It was Stiles' first full moon, and he was looking forward to it. He had changed a few times independently and only a single time when he didn't get control quick enough for Laura. She had put him down on the ground in his backyard, and the shock of that had knocked him out of it.

"She's visited you."

"Yes, I know. I only act like I am in a coma when people get close to the room. One of my nurses leaves me books so I can read. I've read a good bit of popular fiction from the years that I was in a coma. Beggars can't be choosers, and so I've read some shit."

Stiles realized that Peter was getting closer and closer to him. He didn't show the wolf fear, though.

"Why haven't you called your father yet?" Peter asked from about five feet away.

"You've not threatened me yet. Besides, I pulled on the bond to Laura a while back. I'm sure that she's near enough now."

"Aren't you a smart one," Peter said.

The sound of feet on the ground had Stiles and Peter looking at where Laura was getting close to them. She stopped when she saw Peter, her mouth dropping open. She crouched, but Stiles didn't want her attacking Peter. He stepped in front of him and held out his hands.

"Stiles, he's the one who attacked me," Laura said.

"Yeah, and you told me that when he woke up, he was going to be crazy from not having a correct bond. Look at him now. What changed?"

"I bit him," Laura said.

"You forced him to submit. When you bit him."

"Yes. I wasn't sure who had bitten me as my memories are very vague, but then I smelled you in the hospital when I was taken to get a scan. It wasn't hard after that to follow you home and then out here."

"Stay away from my father," Stiles said. He could feel his claws coming out, and he growled at Peter.

"Stiles, calm down. He's not going to hurt your father. I promise," Laura said. She walked over to where Peter was. "You are healed."

"Other than my face, yes, but I can even feel that finally healing. I think it will get better where Derek is here. I can feel him getting closer."

"I thought that bond was the Sheriff's. Stiles said it wasn't, but I didn't believe him. Holy shit."

"You promise?" Stiles asked.

"Yes, Stiles. I promise not to ever hurt your father." Peter's tone was kind of pleading, and the scent of him was that he was telling the truth. There was a pulse down the bond as well. It felt weird, different than Laura's. Derek's bond had been stretched thin from him being in New York; it had gotten stronger the closer he had got by plane and now by car.

"I think I'll need to do something to bond your father to the Pack," Laura said.

"Yes, there is a ritual, different from when you add Betas or Omegas to the Pack. As you can't bit him because he's human and that would turn him. I can teach you."

Stiles eyed Peter. He wasn't sure that he trusted him yet. He didn't trust easily, and having everything fit into that neat little hole that was being made didn't sit well with him. Peter was looking at Stiles, and his face was impassive. Laura had been teaching Stiles a lot about roles in the Pack, and she was always evasive on who each role was before. Especially the Left Hand. It was something that Stiles didn't like, but he also understood that even six years later, it was hard to talk about them. Stiles didn't like talking about his mom to anyone but his father. It had been around the same time, but Stiles had been able to let go some before she died. It was inevitable. The death of the Hale family was not something that Laura could have seen coming.

"Let's go meet the Sheriff and Derek," Laura said.

"Sure," Stiles said. He looked at Peter, confused about what he wanted to do. He didn't want Peter behind him, but he also didn't want him between him and Laura.

"How about I go first? I'm sure I can follow the scent back to where we need to go.

* * *

The sun was finally dipping down, and Stiles looked at where the three Hales were. Derek had been wary about Peter when he had got home but had warmed to him. Laura had told Noah that Peter and Derek were close despite the age difference. Stiles' father wasn't around right now. He was close and inside of his work SUV. He wasn't on duty, but Laura thought it would be good with the fact that Argent was running around the city, looking for Werewolves.

Stiles figured that someone else had seen the revenge symbol and had told Argent about it. He was happy that there didn't seem to be too many Hunters in the city at the moment. Stiles was pretty sure that they were going to see Argent, but Laura didn't think so. Stiles figured that he was stupid enough to come out into the Preserve when it was a full moon. He didn't know about Derek or Peter. A plan was in the works to have Peter finally wake up and then go away for plastic surgery and then come back. It was going to be easy to have that happen, but just keep in him in town and have Laura and Stiles' presence heal him up.

"Ready?" Derek asked as he walked over to Stiles.

Stiles nodded his head; he felt strange around Derek and had since he stepped into the house after Derek got there. At first, Stiles had thought it was the bond between them snapping fully together, but it wasn't that. There was something else and when Stiles had asked about it. Derek had just glared until Stiles felt uncomfortable and left the room. Since then, Stiles had tried to stay away from him. This was the first time that Derek had been around him since Stiles had asked the question.

"I guess." Stiles really didn't want to run with Derek. He was actually willing to run with Peter over Derek. He knew he was going to be left to go alone, but he wasn't sure who was going with who. Or if they were going as a foursome. Laura had been too distracted by Peter and dealing with him over the last few hours that she had forgotten to tell Stiles anything about this. Stiles wasn't that worried about it all, really, but he was more interested in just letting go. His wolf hadn't come out all before this. The fur on his face, though, but then Stiles wasn't sure what differences there were in wolves. He had only seen Laura, really. Peter's form was more due to how he had felt being Omega and left like he was. A grotesque creature showing his anger.

"What's wrong?" Derek asked.

"Nothing." Stiles didn't care if Derek could hear and smell him lying.

Derek made a face, and it looked like he was going to ask something else when Laura called them both over.

Stiles could feel it. It was like there was something under his skin, crawling around to get out. It was unlike he had ever felt before, but he thought about his father about the bond between them from living through Stiles' mother's death and the aftermath of nearly losing their love.

"Stiles, stay close to Derek," Laura said.

So it seemed that the lines had been drawn and Stiles was with Derek. Stiles looked at Derek to see the look on his face. His face was expressive, so to see that it was blank. Which was at least better than pissed off or something like that, but it wasn't good.

Stiles had no plans on staying close to Derek. He could feel his wolf under his skin, waiting to be allowed out. He had a very loose shirt and jeans. Peter had told him that the pants would be fine, but the shirt might still come off just due to restriction of movement. Stiles planned on showing them all wrong.

Laura howled and then took off as the moon came out from behind the clouds. It wasn't fully dark yet, but in the Preserve, it was dark enough. Stiles had perfected his whole thing of using his eyes to see in the dark. It helped a lot at night in his bedroom when he woke up and was looking for something. He didn't have to turn on the light and wake himself up.

Stiles waited for Derek to take off and followed him, staying behind but not trying to pass him, even though the wolf inside wanted to. Stiles had no issues, usually doing what the wolf wanted. It wasn't any part of himself that hadn't been there before, now it was just louder. He enjoyed it a lot, giving in to the part of himself that he had kept hidden and buried.

When they were far enough away to where Stiles couldn't hear Peter or Laura, and he split off of Derek, just off to the side to where he could run a little faster and be in line with him. Derek glared, his face strange in the shadows and darkness where even the moon didn't hit through the trees too much.

Stiles knew this area well; he had played in it as a child and walked it when he was older when he needed to be away from everyone. Derek would be hard-pressed to run after him when Stiles broke off all the way. He waited until they were nearly the one ravine. Stiles slowed as they neared it, which made Derek laugh. Stiles was about to stick his tongue out when Derek jumped over the ravine and landed on the other side.

Taking his chance, Stiles made for broke on the other side, running along it and then back where they had come from. He ran full tilt, his body singing at the happiness of being allowed to do what he wanted to do with no one around him. He rushed and tripped, catching himself as he rolled, he stayed on four legs, finding a way to run that was easy for him to do. He found it even easier and kept on running. He heard someone getting close, and he took off in another direction.

Stiles heard all three of them, and he turned in a way that took him away from them. He ran until he couldn't anymore. He found a bush and slipped under it. He heard the wolves coming close, one on two feet, one on four, and the last on four paws. Stiles could see them through the underbrush. He waited to see if they found him, but they kept on circling around. Like they couldn't smell him.

"Laura, where is he?" Derek demanded.

There was a yip of some kind, and then Peter chuckled.

"What do you find funny?" Derek demanded. He sounded pissed off.

"You said you kept your distance, but you can't deny that magic made him for you."

Peter's hands appeared in Stiles' line of sight just below the bush. Stiles bit at the hand but stopped when it wasn't where it was supposed to be. He had Peter's hand in his mouth, but the mouth was in a different place. It was a snout. He had a snout. The confusion at that had Stiles letting go, and then hands were grabbing him. He didn't fight as he was pulled out. He was lower in Peter's arms than he would be if Peter were pulling him out and holding him up.

"That's impossible for a bitten."

"Not in foxes. Do you not remember the fairy tales that your mother told you? Foxes and Coyotes, who are in touch with their inner self, can change even if they are bitten."

Stiles tried to figure out what they meant until he saw a wolf standing at Derek's side.

"Hale bloodlines are able to shift into wolf forms. We are the oldest and the strongest," Peter said. He shifted Stiles around to where he could sit better in his arms. Stiles realized that he was overly large for a fox, much like Laura was for a wolf. "

"He'll need to be trained."

"And that will be a job for you, Nephew."

"Why do you curse me so?" Derek asked.

"It's not a curse. I bet if you ran, he would follow along, chase you."

Stiles wasn't sure what the two were talking about, but he didn't care. He saw Laura's tale moving back and forth where she was sitting on the ground. He kind of watched to chase it, try and catch. He tried to jump out of Peter's arms but found himself held quite fast.

"I think that our young kit is a little wild," Peter said.

"Then let him go and see if he can find his own way home then."

Stiles growled at Derek and delighted in the look of anger that he got. He tried to lunge at him, but Peter kept him from doing so.

"I am going to let him down, Derek lead him home."

Derek took off running, and Stiles enjoyed the feeling of jumping from Peter's arms and chasing after him. Now that he understood what he was doing, he realized how low he was. He tried to get closer to him, but Derek stayed just out of his reach until they were coming to where Stiles had left his father. He was sitting in the SUV with the door open and book in his hand. He looked up at the two of them and kind of froze as he realized that Derek was running from a fox.

"Son, you okay?" Noah asked, looking at Derek before he looked down at Stiles.

"Yes, Sir. We hit a snag, and there was a small issue."

"Where is my son?" Noah tossed the book into the passenger seat and came out of the vehicle totally.

"He's....safe?" Derek said.

"That sounded like a question."

Stiles rolled his eyes and trotted up to his father, who at least wasn't looking like he was going to draw his gun and shoot. He got onto two legs and pawed at his father's pants, going for where he could smell the beef jerky wrapper. He kept pawing until he pulled it out, and then Stiles settled down to kind of sit. Well, sit in the only way he could when in fox form. He growled at his father through his teeth, still clenched around the wrapper.

"You know you have a good way of making me think that you are my son. You are glaring at me the same way that he does when I eat something this high in salt."

"That's because he is your son. There is a saying among my family about the shape you take reflects who you are. My family has always been predominately wolves, but on occasion, someone will be something else. I had a distant cousin in Virginia that was a coyote after his father married and had him with a Werecoyote. It's a very, very rare trait for a bitten shifter, though, but foxes, it's actually rare for them to not have a form like this."

"Well, he had more than a few traits in common with a fox. Where are you headed?"

"Home. He's a little more vulnerable in this form, and obviously, he's not a danger. His anchor is fully secure. So Laura wanted me to take him while she runs around with Peter. You need to stay, though, just in case the Argents come around."

Noah nodded his head and looked down at Stiles again.

There was a snap, and Stiles jerked his head around to where it was coming from. He heard the heartbeat, but he had been so focused on his father that he hadn't realized that it wasn't one of the other two Hales.

Chris Argent came through the trees with two men behind him.

"Evening," Noah said.

The two men with Argent looked like they wanted to run away. Argent just looked shocked as hell. Stiles slipped up into the cab of the SUV and hoped that none of them had seen him. Derek was, thankfully, human-looking. He walked over to stand beside Noah, blocking anyone from seeing Stiles unless they got really close. Stiles lay down to see the three new men between his father's and Derek's bodies. He watched as Argent stepped closer.

"There are things in the woods tonight that I don't think you should be out and about without protection, Sheriff."

"So that's how you are going to play it?" Noah asked.

"Play what?" Argent asked.

"Getting me out of here so you can go hunt the Hales?"

"Hunt the Hales? Sheriff, what kind of man do you take me for?" Argent's words sounded like they were sweet, but Stiles could smell him, and while he wasn't sure exactly what that smell was, it wasn't anything good. 

"A man that allows his sister to rape a teenager and then set his family on fire," Noah said.

Stiles saw Derek flinch, and then the scent of shame came off of Derek. Stiles reached out and licked at Derek's hand that was closest to him. Derek jerked it away. Stiles felt like biting his hand, even though he knew it would heal up. Stiles wondered just how much Derek had talked on the way back from the airport with his father.

"The Hales have always blamed us. The fire was an accident."

"Well, on the way home from the airport, Argent, I called the station and had one of my deputies look into it. It seems that the guy who declared the fire an accident? He was fired from his job for fraud. It seems it was hushed up and that no one looked into the fires, but the county will be. Every single one of them. I already have DA approval as he's fucking pissed. So yeah, I'll be looking at the person who is said to have set the fire."

"From a man who has issues?"

"What issues? His school record is exemplary. I was accepted to do his post-graduate study in a different school so he could move closer to his sister, who is moving back to Beacon Hills. There is also someone who was able to give me names of all of those who were part of it, so I'll be giving those people a look. Your name didn't come up, but I will be looking at you as well."

"I was not part of it."

"Yeah, but you had to know that she was doing things that were wrong. No matter what your feelings on Werewolves are, Mister Argent, there were children in that house. The reasons that Laura has given me for why Hunters go after Supernatural beings who are doing no harm remind me a lot of what Whites were saying about Black people in older days."

"I'm no racist," Argent said.

"Then prove it to me and stay out of the Preserve, public or private land. This is not hunting season, and you have no reason to be out here. If a single Werewolf comes to me about someone shooting at them, I'll bring you in, and I'll make sure the charges stick. You need to not have a charge against you, don't you?"

The anger that filled the clearing made Stiles rear back. He really didn't want to be found by them right now. A hand patted at his head, and Stiles saw that it was Derek who had shifted his position a little and was able to pet Stiles without causing any issues. Stiles allowed it until he remembered that he was pissed at Derek. He pulled away from Derek, knowing that the man couldn't look back without giving away that someone was in the SUV. Stiles moved until he was sitting in the back seat. He couldn't see anymore, but he could hear. He was happy that he wasn't shifting back as he really didn't want to be naked. He knew that his clothes hadn't gong into the shift with him. So he would stay like this until he got home and in his bed where he could snag blankets to wrap around himself. He listened as his father and Argent talked a little more, and then Peter and Laura arrived in the clearing and got into the SUV.

Peter picked up Stiles and settled him into his lap as Derek got into the back seat while Laura took the front seat. The lines had been drawn, and Stiles had no clue what was going to happen.

* * *

Stiles got home from school, and the house was empty, which wasn't exactly rare, but it was uncommon enough that he sighed a little. Things had been hectic in the county since there had been quite a few fires that had been found to have not been accidents when they were labeled as such, and his father was working a lot to cover them since it was taken out of each city's hands. The locals were all very pissed about that, but there was enough spread around that it was either the Sheriff's department and their investigators or the FBI. The FBI had been sniffing around, but so far, his father had been able to push them off. 

Dropping all of his stuff on his bed from school, he went down the hall. Tonight was a big game for the school, and he was happy to participate in it. He snagged the key that hung on the wall and unlocked the door before slipping into the room. There was the smell of dust and the room just being locked up, but under that was a scent that Stiles had found he had never associated with his mother, but now it was the only thing he did. It lingered in this room and in the clothes that his father still had. He dropped down to sit in the middle of the room. He was kind of happy to be alone for a little while in the house. At least without the three Werewolves that could hear him crying. 

Stiles let himself cry as he hadn't done for a long time. He had cried a lot right after his mother died, but in the years after, those times had dropped. He had been less and less sad over her death as he had moved on. Today though, he always cried. It was another birthday that she never got to see.

A short while later, the tears dried up on their own. He stood up and brushed at the few that lingered on his cheeks before he headed out of the room. He locked it and hung the key up again. He went back to his room to change into his gear to go to the school in for the game and made sure that his bag had everything else. Most of the important stuff was already in his locker in the school, but he liked to have the stuff to change into that didn't stay in that room long term. The scent of the locker room was something that Stiles kind of hated. He didn't want it on his clothes unless he had to, like the little scent that got on them when his bag was in there while he played. It was usually overpowered soon. His gear, though, he didn't think that scent would ever get out of them. He kind of regretted choosing a game like this. Basketball would have been a hell of a lot better. There was only his uniform, and he could take that home every single day. Cross country in the summer and fall would be a lot better. 

The house was still empty of everyone but him when it came time for him to head back to the school for the game. He smiled as he passed by the picture of him at age nine with his parents behind him that graced the door. Stiles had hung it there not long after his mother died. He liked seeing her as he left the house every single time. He wasn't sure if his father liked it or not, but he had never said a damned thing about it.

Stiles was one of the first to arrive, so he got dressed in what he needed before heading out. He could get into the last of his gear out on the field after he warmed up. Even though he really didn't need to, he always made a show of warming up. He could feel eyes on him and looked around until he spotted a few kids in the stands. They were talking among themselves and looking at him. Freshman, Stiles was pretty sure. He looked away from them and out into the field where the other team was starting to warm up. 

When the game was over, Stiles couldn't believe that no only had he scored to start to turn the game around, but he had scored the game-winning goal. Lydia Martin was looking at him like she knew that he existed, it was just too late. It was a damned good game. Stiles looked into the stands for the first time, looking for his family, but he didn't even see his father, much less the three Hales. They were all busy with things. Derek had flown in that morning for a weekend with Laura, and Stiles had thought maybe it had to do with his seventeenth birthday, but it seemed that it didn't. He was okay with that.

"Hey, Stiles," Danny said as he walked up to Stiles once the team was done with jostling him around. "Teams coming back to mine to celebrate. You up for it?"

"Nah, I'm going to head home."

"I thought that might be the answer. I told the guys you had other plans already with your father. I do remember what today is, so don't worry about the team. Jackson said, you always have plans today with your father. No one cared, really."

"Thanks." Stiles couldn't get over how much Danny's attitude had changed toward Stiles over the last little while. Instead of being an asshole like he normally was, he was kind of nice. Jackson had been not picking on him as much. Everything was different. Stiles took his time getting cleaned up from the game and then waited by his Jeep while some of the parents were still talking. 

He stayed in the parking lot until everyone else was gone. "Happy birthday to me."

Stiles didn't feel like going home, so he went to the Preserve, to the area he knew best. He looked around and then stripped to nothing, leaving his clothes in a pile in the Jeep. He mostly shut the Jeep door and shifted to fox form. It was easy now, just like breathing. Letting that side of himself take over. He ran until he couldn't anymore and found a rock that still held some of the day's warmth and laid there. It was Friday, so it wasn't like he had school the next day. 

An hour later, the brush around him rustled, and Derek came through. He looked a little shocked to see Stiles. Derek didn't say anything to him but pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number. Stiles dismissed him and curled his head down into the little nest he had made of his own body. He curled his tail over his face. 

"I've got him. About two miles into the Preserve. The area smells like he visits a lot, so now I know where to go."

Stiles thought that he would obviously need to find a new place, just to spite Derek. If he pushed, he could hear what was being said on the phone, but he didn't want to. He had his hearing dialed down so that he wouldn't hear all of the creatures running around. 

"I think we made a mistake on a few things. I'll see if I can get him to come with me, but I'm not forcing him home." Derek hung up the phone next. "Stiles, look at me."

Stiles did not. He was half tempted to take off running. Derek left him alone at every other instance. Why should this be any different? It wasn't like it was dangerous. The Argents had left Beacon Hills, and they weren't going to come back for a long time. Which had Scott pissed at him as his girlfriend left, and he blamed Stiles' father and, therefore, Stiles for Kate Argent burning down the house with the Hales in it. 

Derek got closer, so Stiles growled at him to get him to stop. He heard the stopping and was proud of himself. 

"We are sorry," Derek said. 

Stiles got up. He didn't want to hear anything that Derek said. Despite living in the same house, Derek acted like Stiles didn't exist unless someone forced them to talk to each other. It wasn't like Derek liked him. Stiles stretched, and he jumped off the rock. He trotted over to the edge of the clearing where he had entered it and kept on going. Derek followed him for a few hundred feet, then stopped. He headed toward the direct path to take him back to the house. 

Once in his Jeep, Stiles looked at his cell phone and the missed calls from his father, then Laura, then Peter. The texts demanded to know where he was then the pleading ones asking him to just tell them where he was and if he was safe. It wasn't midnight yet, so the team would probably still be partying some. 

Stiles opened up his chat with Danny about the chemistry homework earlier in the week. 

_Hey, can I stay at yours tonight?_

It didn't take long for the little icon to pop up that Danny was typing something. 

_Anytime you need it._

Stiles had heard him say it since the team had finally accepted that Scott and Stiles were no longer ScottNStiles anymore. Stiles nodded his head and started up the Jeep. The drive through town was pretty quick given the time of night. Danny's place was pretty empty, which was a shock. There was only Danny's car and then Jackson's. The door opened as Stiles turned off his Jeep. Danny was in the doorway with Jackson behind him.

"Thought you were busy with your Dad?" Danny asked.

"Nah, just felt like being alone, don't feel like it anymore now."

"Your Dad was pretty excited at the game and the three people that were with him."

"Dad was there?" Stiles asked.

"Okay, let's go inside. I'm tired," Jackson said. The tone was just as assholish as it always was, but there was a look in his eye that Stiles had never seen directed at anyone but Danny, but this was directed at him. 

"Does your Dad know where you are?"

"I'm fucking seventeen today. He knows I'm alive, and that's all that matters." 

"Shit," Danny said. 

Stiles let himself be tugged into the house and directed up to what he assumed as Danny's bedroom. The upper floors were always off-limits during parties, so Stiles had never seen it before. 

"Yes, your father was at the game," Jackson said as soon as Danny shoved Stiles down onto the bed. Jackson sat at Danny's desk while Danny sat on the bed beside Stiles. "You didn't see him?"

"I do better when I don't look in the stands at all. I didn't even look before the game started."

"You've been in a funk all day. What's up?" Jackson asked.

"Up until one of the people that was with Dad found me where I was walking in the Preserve, I've not seen one of them all day. There was a note that Dad was at work early, and the other three had errands they were doing. Which, I really don't give a shit what they do. Yeah, they live with us, but it's not like I'm their keeper. No one was home when I went home between school and the game. I looked in the stands after the team was done with their little celebration, and he wasn't there. So no, I didn't know that he was there at the game. I'm seventeen today, and no one has wished me a happy birthday." 

"Look, lay down and get comfortable. Jackson was staying the night, and I think maybe you could do with cuddles."

"Cuddles with you two?"

"I've seen the way you are with your father, Stiles. You are both very tactile. You and Scott used to be, and now you aren't. Yeah, cuddles. They always make me feel better when I'm down." Danny shoved at him until he dropped down to lay on his back. He was there taking Stiles' shoes off and then waved him under the covers. 

Stiles heard the doorbell ring and frowned. It was never good when it rang that late.

"Jacks?" Danny asked.

"Sure. You get him figured out." Jackson waved his hand at Stiles and huffed. 

Stiles had learned that Jackson wasn't nearly as horrible as he tried to act like in school. Yeah, he was a big asshole, but he was softer with Danny. Especially now that he and Lydia had broken up for good, at least according to Jackson. At one point, that would have made Stiles happy, but he had moved on from Lydia over the last few months. 

Training his hearing to the door, Stiles heard his father's heartbeat.

"Yes, Sheriff, Stiles is here, but I don't think I want to let you in."

"He's my son and a minor."

"Yeah, he might be at that, but I'm sure that if I called my father right now, he would land on Stiles' side. I know McCall has his head up his ass at the moment, and I didn't know it was Stiles' birthday, but how in the hell could you go all day without telling him happy birthday? You know, I remember when we were younger, hearing him talking about the plans that he had for his seventeenth birthday with his mom. A weekend in New York and a Mets game, wasn't it, Sir? Well, he's where he wants to be on his birthday, and I will call the locals to get you removed from Danny's land. His parents aren't here this week, but my Dad is well aware of everything that is going on with Danny and me."

Stiles laughed a little but tried not to do it too loud cause Stiles shouldn't be able to hear that.

"I just want to talk to him. To explain."

"My parents and I haven't got along well at all since they told me I was adopted. Yet, when it's my birthday, I get a special breakfast, and they let me know that they love me first thing. I might not say it back at all, but I know that they love me. I am not sure that Stiles can say the same right now. Danny and I will make sure that gets home at some point when he wants. He's here, and he's safe. If you want an adult, I'll call my mother, and she'll come and stay the night."

"No, that's fine."

Stiles almost got up and went down to tell his father he was sorry for worrying him, but he stopped when Danny pulled him close, cuddling him like he said he would. It wasn't his Pack, but it was good enough for him.

* * *

"You are joking, right?" Stiles asked before he shoved a bit of biscuit and gravy into his mouth.

"No," Jackson said with a smug look on his face.

"No, it really happened," Danny said.

"Damn." Stiles shook his head and grabbed his cup of hot tea. He still glared at Danny for it. Though he did understand as he had drunk three cups before leaving the house with them that morning. They had taken Danny's car since Jackson refused to get into the Jeep, and Jackson's car didn't fit him. "I missed a lot of stuff, huh?" Stiles asked.

"Nothing big that we can't catch you up on. So how exactly is it your fault that Scott's girlfriend's family are a bunch of murders?" Jackson asked.

"Right for the hard shit, huh?" Stiles asked. He looked at his plate and finished it off before snagging his drink and washing it down. "So it's my fault since I was the one that figured out a kind of pattern in arson cases up and down the seaboard. Thankfully, it stopped with the Hale fire. I would say that she was afraid of being caught since something happened there. One of the officers for the locals got a little mouthy when they shouldn't and that I did a lot of research on my own got told to the reporters. So it's my fault since I was the one that figured that out while the cops were just trying to link Kate to the Hale fire."

"And did she really?" Danny stopped and ducked his head.

"Fake a teaching degree and become a swim coach to get into the school? Yeah."

"Dude."

"There was a plan they found about to get the father into the school as a fake principal. So yeah, there is a lot that is being looked into. I won't be shocked if a lot of heads roll after everything is figured out. And that's the stuff I've heard my father telling city people, so I'm not giving away secrets."

"And McCall wants to blame you?" Jackson asked.

Stiles shrugged. Allison was Scott's first real girlfriend. He could kind of see where Scott was pissed but being pissed at Stiles wasn't the way to go.

"I heard him telling someone that the Hales must have done something to deserve it. There were children in that house. Eight people died. Children don't deserve to die, no matter if their parents are horrible or not."

Stiles nodded his head. He had ranted until he was blue in the face, which was a feat now that he was a Werefox when he had heard about what Scott said. It was still a shitty thing.

"Excuse me," Derek said.

Stiles looked up at him and frowned. He had been so distracted by Jackson and Danny that he hadn't noticed that Derek was there. He wasn't sure if he had come in after them or had been in there the whole time. He didn't care, but he would have been more alert.

"Can we help you?" Jackson asked, and from the tone, Stiles knew that he knew this was one of the people that lived with him and his father.

Stiles' father had tried to get them to move out, but Pack lived together, and it wasn't like the Stilinski's were going to move out anytime soon. Stiles was happy where they were. Instead, Laura had paid off the mortgage and already had plans to put a new roof on the house. Stiles had let his father lose that battle on his own.

"I wanted to talk to Stiles alone. We can go outside."

"Well, that's on Stiles, not on us." Danny was glaring at Derek as well.

"Stiles?"

"Fine. You have five minutes once I get outside. I'll join you when I feel like it." Stiles wasn't going to make him wait long, but he would finish off his tea before heading out and then get another bag steeping. He watched Derek as he walked to the register and paid. Stiles figured that Derek was covering at least Stiles' food, if not the whole table, the way that he waved toward them. It wasn't like Jackson or Danny needed him to pay the bill. It was some kind of tactic to make Stiles feel like he owed Derek something.

"So that's..." Danny pointed over his shoulder, where Derek was leaving the restaurant.

"Derek Hale," Stiles answered.

"Ah, and he's the one that acts like you don't exist in your own home?"

"Yeah, but Laura told me not to take it personally as he's like that with a lot of people. Peter hinted it was something else, and I think he's letting me try and figure it out independently. Peter likes intelligence. I just have no clue what's going on." Stiles took the last drink of his tea and got the next one set up. "If I'm out there more than five minutes, pull the bag?"

"Not come out there?"

"No. I can handle him, don't worry about that."

Jackson nodded his head even though he didn't look like he liked Stiles' answer to his question. Stiles patted his shoulder as he passed by him before heading out of the restaurant to talk to Derek.

Derek was leaning against the Camaro that he had bought when arriving in Beacon Hills.

"What did you want to talk about?" Stiles asked.

"Me and you," Derek said.

"Funny. I'm going back inside. When you are-" Stiles stopped talking when Derek covered his mouth with his hand. Stiles glared at him, but Derek didn't remove it.

"I thought you were younger," Derek blurted out. He looked like he was waiting on something but then realized that he was covering up Stiles' mouth. Derek removed his hand.

"Younger? I'm just now seventeen, dude. How old did you think I was? I mean, I drove without an adult in the car. So I had to be sixteen."

"I know that, but I just assumed you were newly sixteen and not, you know, almost seventeen."

"And what does that have to do with the price of tea in China? I mean, what the fuck does my age have to do with shit. Seventeen is the age where all of a sudden, you give a shit about being nice to someone?"

"No."

"Okay, so you were an asshole to me for another reason?" Stiles asked.

"Yes."

"Great. Well, it's not like I can change who I and I would never change who I am for anyone that I loved, so some fucking stranger who treats me like shit in my own home isn't going to get any chance to make me do a damned thing different. We just gotta keep away from each other for just over two years, Derek." Stiles turned to leave. He wasn't sure what Derek wanted to talk about but hey, who the hell knew what going on in his brain.

"Have you read that book that Peter gave you on bonds?"

"Bonds? Yeah, well, I mean most of it. The author really waxed on about mate bonds, so I only read like one page before moving onto the next section. I was going to ask Peter for a different book on them. Why?"

"So you didn't read anything on mate bonds?'

"Dude, the writer was like a high school girl writing about her first crush on the quarterback. It kind of made me sick to read it. Why? What's so important about mates?"

"Mates know each other by the feel of each other. Usually, there is a scent on each other that they like. They feel drawn to each other."

"Gotcha. Well, thanks for the info. I still don't understand what you want to really talk about here. I mean...you hate me, I get that, and now we are talking about mates. Is that why you hate me? You lost your mate, and I remind you of them? Well, sorry, buddy, but I can't help that."

"You are the most annoy and aggravating person I have ever met in my life."

Stiles just grinned at him before he turned around to head back inside. He needed ice cream now. He was glad that the place had milkshakes. He could order one of those. He was still very hungry, maybe Jackson and Danny hadn't eaten the last of their food, and he could finish that off.

Derek grabbed Stiles hauling him around to look at him. His eyes glowed blue, and Stiles knew what that meant. Peter's eyes were not blue but yellow. No one had told Stiles that Derek felt guilty over a life he had taken. Or he was guilty because of the death of his family.

"Let him go!" Jackson yelled.

Derek dropped his hold on Stiles' arm. Jackson stepped up behind Stiles, thankfully not putting Stiles behind him. Stiles could hear Danny's heartbeat not far behind.

"What the hell, dude!" Stiles yelled at Derek.

"I just want to talk."

"Dude, we've been talking. You called me the most annoying and aggravating person you have ever met. Which yeah, I get, but you know what? I don't have to take that shit from people. So I'm going to remove myself from this situation."

Before Stiles could move away from Derek, there was a whoop from the siren of a cop car. Stiles groaned and looked to see that it was his father. He turned and looked at Danny, who just shrugged. He hadn't been the one to do it, so it probably someone inside of the restaurant.

"Stiles?" Noah asked as he got out of the SUV.

"It's fine, Dad. Derek's just leaving." Stiles looked at his father to see that he wasn't dressed for work.

"The call came through that he was rough with you, and they were worried."

"He grabbed my arm, thinking that I would talk to him more after he acted like I'm worse than the shit on his shoes."

"Stiles," Derek growled.

"No, cut the fucking shit. I don't give a shit why you hate me. I'm done. I'm just fucking done with it. Grow the fuck up or get out of my house. I don't give a shit. You live with your family. I won't feel like I'm some horrible person because it bothers you when I walk into the kitchen to get a drink of water when you are in there. Or the living room when you are watching TV. I feel like I have to tiptoe around my own fucking house, and I've never had to do that before. Even when Mom was sick, she never made me feel like this, and for a while, I fucking hated her when she called me evil and said that I was trying to kill her."

"Whittemore, Māhealani get him out of here," Noah said.

"Sure," Danny said, and he tugged on Stiles' arm.

"Son, I'll stop by later and talk to you. I had to go in a deal with something, but I would like to talk to you."

"Nah, I'm gonna go to Danny's and get my Jeep and head home. I think I'm pretty much peopled out."

Noah nodded his head.

"This guy here paid already, so we are good to go," Jackson said. He made it sound like it was the worst thing in the world, making Derek glare at him.

"Then let's get out of here." Stiles looked at Derek one last time, and this time on his face wasn't anger or anything like it. It was loss. Like he was losing something important. Stiles had a lot to think about on why Derek would look like that.

* * *

Stiles knocked on the door that had been put up in the basement that led into Peter's part of the place. After being in the hospital for so long, aware of what was going on but trapped, it had been voted that he got the most isolated place in the house.

"Enter, Stiles."

Stiles opened the door. Peter was sitting at a desk, writing out something while looking at a book.

"If you are busy, I can come back."

"No, I'm just making a note on a case file for your father about the Supernatural being who did it. What can I do for you?" Peter laid the pen down and looked at him.

"Why does Derek hate me?" Stiles had been thinking about it since he had left the restaurant, and while he told his father he was coming straight home, he wasn't going to just wait for him to get back from whatever he was doing that was work-related.

"He does not hate you." Peter held up a finger when Stiles opened his mouth. "He doesn't. He's not...Laura didn't know about Kate until Derek broke down and told your father about it on the trip from San Francisco. He's getting into therapy that will help him now, and they are doing it over the phone right now as they are based near Berkeley. He's learning how to process everything that was done to him, and unfortunately, none of us realized why he didn't like you to begin with until things were too far gone. As much as he seemed to dislike you, we thought that you didn't care. Then your father pointed out what you do to people you don't like, which was different. You didn't care that he didn't like you. You probably couldn't care less. You went on with your life and just ignored him."

"What the hell else was I supposed to do?"

"Yes, your father asked the same thing. Derek doesn't understand the difference between liking someone for who they are and liking someone just because they are a certain age."

"What?" Stiles asked.

"Derek thought that he was some kind of horrible person because he liked you. He was not equating liking someone for who they are and liking someone because of their age."

"So he treated me like shit? Hoping that what? It would cure him? What the hell does that have to do with why he was asking me about mates."

"He asked you?" Peter asked.

"Yeah, I mean, he asked if I had read that book you gave me. I told him mostly. The part on mates and their bonds was written by a teenager who is crushing on the quarterback. It gave me flashbacks to the time that I watched some stupid chick flick that Lydia liked, and I didn't understand most of why anyone would want to watch that, especially more than once."

"Then Laura, Derek, and I assumed you knew something that you don't. Before you started to dislike Derek because he disliked you, how did you feel about him?"

"I mean there was drawn to him. Once I was around him for a little while, it went away. It's not like some big thing. I assumed it was the Pack bond trying to get us closer, and then it gave up."

"No, it shouldn't have just stopped. That's not right."

"I don't know what to tell you."

Peter looked, really confused. His eyes darted to the side, and there was Laura, who was looking at Stiles like he had ripped out her heart and was showing it to her.

"You feel nothing for him?"

"I don't know what's going on."

"Stiles, Derek knew from the moment that he met you that you were his mate. He reacted poorly, but you should feel something, any kind of draw to him. To just be near him."

"Dude, that's like telling someone that just because a guy or a girl likes them that they need to like them back. That's fucked up. No, I don't have to feel a damned thing for him. He's treated me like shit for something that I can't help and so no. Just fucking no."

"I think it might be best if we moved to a different house, close to Noah and Stiles. I know what you have to be feeling, Laura, but...there is obviously something else going on here."

"Yeah, the house on the other side of the block will be going for sale soon. We can purchase it and move into it as soon as the people move out, and we get it clean." Laura turned.

"You guys don't have to leave. I was just pissed at Derek. It's not like we are ever here for that long at the same time. He's going to be going back and finishing his degree, and then I'll be going to college. I might be able to push up some credit and leave before the end of my senior year. It's pretty much just two summers, and Derek said he was doing some kind of project next summer if it pans out and everything. Then I'll be gone."

"Stiles living wit him is not good for you."

"Yeah, well, he'll just have to suck it up and deal. Dad likes you living here, and I do as well. I can deal with his surly ass to keep that going." Stiles wasn't sure what was going on with the two Hales. He still pretty much figured that Derek's thoughts were wrong about him. There was no way that Stiles was Derek's mate. He wondered if everything to do with the fire and the way that three Hales were separated was something that had fucked with them more than they thought.

Stiles walked past Laura and headed up to his room. He found that book on bonds and read over the section about mates and frowned the entire time. Yeah, there was no way that he and Derek were mates.

* * *

Laughing as he dove bomb Jackson, Stiles let the man settle him down onto the bed more comfortably. It was their last night in their New York apartment. The only things left were the single bed they were going to share for the night before the movers came and packed up everything to move back to Beacon Hills. Their lives were in boxes and what little they needed to get ready in the morning.

"Ready?" Jackson asked.

"Yeah. As much as I can be, that is. Dad's still a little pissed about me going the law route instead of following him, but he'll get over it soon. I hope." Stiles wiggled under the blankets and sighed as Jackson pressed into him a little more. Stiles was going to smell like him for days, and that would make Peter and Laura, and probably a few of the other Pack members try and rub his scent off of him. Jackson was too involved with Danny after he had finally stopped being scared of coming out. It was good for him.

It had been six years for both of them since they had been in Beacon Hills for anything longer than a month. Yeah, Stiles came home for a month during summer to spend with his father, but his Pack bonds were still loose compared to the one that he had to Jackson and Danny. Though they were human, they had both been brought in despite how much Derek hated the idea.

Six years and Stiles was still pretty sure that Derek only fixated on him as his mate because Derek knew that they would never work together. It wasn't like Derek tried to date anyone else, or anyone tried to make him date since he was supposedly mates to Stiles, who wasn't even around. It was the perfect get out of jail free card.

Whenever Stiles came home that wasn't a holiday, Derek would go to San Francisco, where he worked and stay. He rented a place there and worked there during the week and came home on the weekends. It was kind of perfect for him. He had a place to go when Stiles was around. Danny, Jackson, and Stiles were going to be staying in the apartment that Jackson's parents had bought for him in preparation for him taking and passing the bar in California.

Sleep came easily, and then it was waking up to Jackson barking orders at the men who were moving their boxes into the truck to be shipped across the country. Most of it they really didn't care about. The two beds were going to be taken and put in the two bedrooms that didn't have beds yet. 

Going home wasn't something that Stiles was sure he was ready for. It was back to Beacon Hills and the strangeness that was the Pack bond between him and Derek. It was so faint that most of the time, Stiles could ignore it. When he was home, and Derek was in San Francisco, there was no denying that there was something wrong with their Pack bond.

Stiles didn't go home, but he didn't want to not be there for Laura, or Peter, and even a little bit Cora. Cora didn't like Stiles all that much, even though she agreed that Derek had been too much of an asshole when Derek had first come to Beacon Hills. Cora was still Derek's real family, and she would stand beside him. She didn't have to keep the peace like Laura.

"What are you thinking about?" Jackson asked as they crossed the border into Beacon Hills. The vehicle had been rented by Laura. There had been no issues getting it. The same place had a shop in Beacon Hills, so they could just drop it there when they were done with it. Which was after they had dropped their stuff at the apartment. 

"How much I am excited and worried about this."

"Why?" Jackson asked.

"It's not like Derek is going to just disappear all the time now. I'll have to deal with him, and I still don't understand how he can think we are mates. It's just insane to me." Stiles doesn't voice that he's worried that the pull he has to Derek isn't just the Pack bond like he thought. That there is something behind it. That there is a reason why no matter how perfect some of the people he dated were, there was never that connection to them. Stiles had tried for nearly a year with a girl and then found a nice boy that he swore he could fall in love with, and it had fizzled in a month. Stiles had never told anyone about it. Jackson just assumed he was picky as hell and hard to please, which Jackson respected. Jackson had taken nearly all of the high school to admit his feelings for Danny, and with them being long distance, it was easy for them to build a good relationship before it turned sexual as both of them had been too sexual with most of their high school ones. 

"You'll figure it out, Stiles. You always do." 

Stiles nodded his head, and he saw the building their apartment was in. It was a three-bedroom. While Jackson's parents supported his relationship with Danny, the third bedroom was mainly because they knew that both Jackson and Danny were volatile. Getting used to living together meant that someone would end up on the couch, and a bed was better. It was better all over, really. 

"What?" Jackson said as he rolled to a stop at the stop sign. He didn't take his foot off of the brake, so Stiles looked up.

A small grouping of vehicles in the guest parking, and Stiles knew every single one of them. He sighed as he wasn't in the mood for a party of some kind to welcome them home. He really wished that Laura didn't like surprise parties. Sties looked at Jackson, and Jackson nodded his head. Stiles opened the door before reaching into the backseat and grabbing his backpack. He waved and blew a kiss to Jackson before he headed away from where the apartment was. He really didn't care if anyone saw him. He really didn't need a welcome home party literally when he got home. He had been traveling nearly all day between time zones and layovers and all of the other shit. He just wanted to decompress. 

Stiles found the little coffee shop that he loved and slipped inside of it. He was happy that Jackson loved the place, and that meant he told his father he wanted an apartment within walking distance of it. Stiles stopped as a scent filled his nose. He looked around, and there was Derek at his favorite table. Stiles really didn't want to deal with it, but he could easily find a new seat to sit at. 

"Stiles, I have your tea," Derek said.

Stiles gripped his backpack strap and debated what he was going to do. 

"I don't expect you to talk or anything. I just knew that you didn't want the party, but Laura didn't listen to me. Your father isn't there either, nor is Peter. It's mostly the Pack you haven't got to know well enough yet given that they joined while you were at school." 

Stiles looked around to see that the shop was empty, and it seemed event he staff wasn't there.

"Cookies. They are in the back, making more."

Stiles listened, and he could hear them chatting around the side of the doorway. They wouldn't be able to hear unless Stiles shouted. 

"I saw the car go through and knew you would be here in a few moments, so I had Karen make your latte, and then she disappeared so you could have some time without anyone goggling over you."

Stiles nodded his head, and he walked over to sit down. He dropped his backpack carefully down in the seat next to him before picking up his tea and taking a sip. Karen was still the best when it came to that. 

"Welcome home," Derek said.

"Thanks. It's good to be home. I'm surprised you are here."

"Ah, Laura's not told you?" Derek asked.

"Nah, she was more stressed about all of the Betas coming home since this was the first year that everyone was coming home after classes let out and such, and then me moving back. I'm sure it slipped her mind."

"My firm is opening up a satellite office here. I guess there is enough work coming from Beacon County that they wanted to snag it instead of someone else opening up a big firm here and would steal their people. Since my family is here, I was offered a position here instead of there."

"And of course you took it. That's great, man. That means they trust you to work with less supervision. What are your plans?"

"I was just gonna read." Derek lifted a book up from the seat beside him. He laid it out, using one hand to hold it open while he used his other to take a sip of coffee. 

Stiles nodded and snagged his laptop. He had a few things he wanted to check on and then a short piece of writing on himself for the firm's website. Stiles would have taken his pen to anything written by someone else on him, so Jackson's father had just told him to write it himself. Of course, David would have all veto power of anything on there, but the little bio was supposed to represent who he was, not some boilerplate thing that was corporate and not Stiles at all. So Stiles was gonna have fun and then have Danny look it over to make sure he wasn't too over the top.

A few minutes into his work, his phone started to vibrate. Stiles looked at it and found that it was Laura. Stiles shook his head and texted her that he was fine, but he wasn't up for a crowd. He had hoped it would be the end, but after reading it, she called again. 

"Your sister sometimes just doesn't get it." Stiles tossed his phone down, and Derek pulled out his. Frowning at it before he turned it off all the way. He picked up Stiles' and did the same. Stiles frowned at how he knew the code to get into the phone. "How did you know that?"

"I wanna say something shitty about you have stupid passwords like Scott when he was dating Allison and Allison was his password for everything, even years later when he pining like he was, but the real answer is more creepy."

"Creepy?" Stiles asked. 

"I watch you, just when we are at the house together at the holidays and stuff. You've not changed your code in a few years, and you opened it once in front of me. I don't think you even noticed I was behind you."

Stiles wasn't sure if he wanted to answer that as he knew that Derek was behind him whenever he was, but he never thought that Derek actually paid attention to him. Derek wasn't an asshole to Stiles anymore, but he didn't try and talk to him either. They always exchanged pleasantries but never anything too long. Derek always asked how school was going and Stiles how his work was. Last Christmas, Derek had gotten lost telling a story about this house he was designing for someone who was an idiot. 

"I did," Stiles said. He wasn't sure what the hell was going on, but the bond between them felt different. It felt tighter but also looser at the same time. It was good. 

Derek gave Stiles a smile.

"They are going to find us here," Stiles said.

"What do you suggest we do?" Derek asked.

"Do you have your car with you?"

"Not really, but it's close by."

Stiles raised an eyebrow at that. 

"I'm on the top floor of the building you are in. I didn't know that until today. Laura talked about the apartment that Jackson's father bought him, but it wasn't until today when I saw Laura bringing stuff in for the party that I knew it was the same. But Laura took my spot outside, so I parked down the street. I can go get it and pick you up in the alley."

"I'm thinking of going to the movie theater. Even if they track us down, they can't make a scene, or they will get thrown out."

"I like the way you think."

Stile shut his computer and drained his tea as Derek slipped his book into his bag and stood up. 

Twenty minutes later, they were waiting in line for tickets, and Stiles was laughing at Derek's commentary at the mother who was trying to corral three kids who didn't want to be corralled. This was not how he saw the day going, and he wasn't sure if he was happy about that or not. 

The action flick was unremarkable as it was standard everything, but the cast was hot and half-naked for most of it, so it was a draw to those of every sexuality that liked to look at hot people. Derek bought the tickets and the food, and Stiles tried to get him to stop, but he won as Stiles didn't like to make a scene. Then afterward, they were at loose ends. It was late enough that there were plenty of food options, but Stiles wasn't sure what he wanted to eat. 

"Steak or fish?" Derek asked.

"Both?" Stiles knew exactly where they could go now that Derek had put down what he was feeling like. 

Derek nodded his head and waved for Stiles to get into the Camaro. Stiles relaxed into the seat and looked at Derek's hand on the gear shift as he got them out of the theater's parking lot. Derek kept his hand there even after he was in the gear needed. Stiles reached out and touched. Just a finger down the back of Derek's hand, but the touch felt different. It wasn't like when he had done that with other people; he swallowed and laid his hand over Derek's next, laying his fingers on top of Derek's own. Derek stretched his fingers out and spread them, so Stiles threaded them together. 

"I'm not a mouthy teenager anymore," Stiles said.

"No, you are a mouthy adult," Derek said with a grin on his lips.

"I just mean...This scares me, Derek."

"I know. It did me for a long time. I went to therapy in San Francisco after I got my Master's. I worked through everything. My anger at finding my mate at the time was a teenager that I wasn't attracted to you just because you were a teenager. I found my full shift form, a wolf, as you can figure. Maybe this full moon we can run together in our fur?"

"Maybe." Stiles kind of liked the sound of it. Peter had found his form after therapy, and Laura, of course, had hers. Stiles enjoyed running with them, but there was a little thrill at running with Derek. "I'll stop fighting it."

"I never cared that you were. I earned it by being an asshole before even trying to get to know you for who you were instead of what I thought you were. I was a work in progress for a long time." 

Stiles hummed and just enjoyed holding Derek's hand. He rubbed his other hand on his thigh as they pulled into the restaurant parking lot. The place was packed with more than a few couples standing outside waiting. 

"Wait here?" Derek asked.

"Yeah, go get a pager or give them your phone number or whatever they do. We can talk, really talk while here, and then move to less intense topics for inside."

Derek leaned over and kissed Stiles' cheek before rubbing their cheeks together. Derek smelled wonderful to Stiles; he always had. He made a low whining noise when Derek finally pulled back. Derek just grinned at him and slipped out of the car.

As soon as he was inside, Stiles turned on his phone. There was a host of messages that loaded as soon as his connection was stable. There were only missed calls from Laura and seven voicemails from her. He ignored those. He would listen to them tomorrow. 

The only texts that Stiles answered were the two from his father asking him to check in when he turned his phone on and then one asking him to check on Derek as no one could get ahold of him either. The last he answered was from Jackson, who said that he saw Stiles get into Derek's Camaro and told him not to get caught having sex in public. 

Stiles laughed and was a smartass as he responded to that. Sex was a long way away. There was a lot of trust that needed to be built between them, and while the urge to be together was going to burn bright given how many years they had both been ignoring the bond, sex wouldn't come into it until they were settled. Stiles had studied mate bonds in every literature branch from every true source that he could find while in college. He understood why he reacted as he had to Derek but even before just being around him, he hadn't fully believed that Derek was his but the calm he had felt over the last few hours, how happy he was to just be in the same room as him. 

They could easily just push the bond away for the rest of their lives, be happy with being Pack, and that was it, but given everything, they needed to give it a chance. Stiles knew that. He was happy to just do that. To take things slow.

Derek left the restaurant, and Stiles watched him walking across the parking lot. A few sets of eyes were on him, especially from the crowd of ladies who seemed like they were already a little drunk. Stiles enjoyed it when Derek got into the Camaro again and kissed Stiles' cheek. The ladies all looked a little put out. 

"All set?" Stiles asked.

"Yeah. It's gonna be about half an hour maybe more, but I requested seating in the area that's a little less crowded on the table front. The hostess was happy to honor it as long as I knew it would be longer."

"I don't mind waiting." Stiles turned in his seat to where he could look at Derek, and Derek did the same. They had a lot of ground to cover, but he was sure they could get through many it.

"Good. I have a spare bedroom, in case Laura's waiting to ambush you."

"Jackson texted that the apartment was clear. I should be good to go home. There are already two beds set up for us in our rooms. The beds from our apartment back East are going into the guest room. We have enough Pack to figure that someone will want to crash there enough that two extra beds sounded better than just one. Besides, Jackson and I nearly killed each other last night sleeping in the same bed. I don't want a repeat of that."

"No. You both move too much in your sleep."

"There is that creeper a little."

"Jackson rolls almost on clockwork from front to back and back again. He stayed the night enough in the guest room at your place, and I downstairs with Peter when I stayed over for weekend full moon stuff. You always sleep the same, moving for your dreams or changing into a fox when you wanna chase stuff in them."

"Shut up." Stiles kicked out with his foot and nudged Derek's knee. Derek grabbed his foot and held onto it, grinning as he did. "This isn't talking about everything."

"No, but it's fun. We need a little fun between us." Derek's hands settled Stiles' foot on his lap. Stiles got comfortable, and then he felt Derek's fingers tracing the line of his sock. He glared at him, but all Derek did was give him a simpering smile. 

Derek was an asshole, but he was less of one to Stiles anymore, and as long as they kept a good and open communication between them, Stiles was pretty sure they would be fine. It would be rocky, but they were adults who were not as reactive as much anymore. They could do it. 

A little chaos had got them into this whole mess with Stiles meeting Laura and everything that rolled after that. Chaos was good for the soul, Stiles thought. Even though he knew a lot of people didn't agree.

# The End

**Author's Note:**

> I write fanfiction for fun. It's a hobby and a stress relief. I refuse to stress over my writing. What you see is what you get. Errors, plot holes, and all. Thank you for reading my story! 
> 
> I can be found on MeWe [here](https://mewe.com/i/beccaqueen1), join me there and we can discuss my fics and whatnot.


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